Soundz

Name: Jon Gould
Comment: I used to love Soundz. Endless hours flicking through racks of vinyl, returning home with all sorts of weird and wonderful music.

Name: Chris Wills
Comment: Used to work in the Paignton shop for Mike McGowan, he was also a local DJ. Think his lad Ben was also a local DJ, he may be known around the bay. LOVED working there after college and weekends, happy days!

Name: Ricky H-s
Comment: All your gig tickets for Cornwall Coliseum sold here.

Name: Marc Bolger
Comment: Was at a wedding a few weeks ago, Mike was the DJ. Family friend and such a lovely family xx

Name: Ashley Ayling
Comment: Bought my first record 7" from there, Come On Eileen, and Joan Jett, and The Blockheads... strange mix I know... I was only 15....

Name: Jackie Bickford
Comment: Remember Soundz well. Going in there to pick up my singles and albums for my DJ days.

Name: Clive Gill
Comment: Bought many records there, and in the Paignton shop too. When I used the shop it was owned by Mike McGowan. Happy, and simpler days.

Name: Joanna McCall-Shaw
Comment: I bought my first album in there. Lindisfarne... Run for Home being the track I wanted.

Name: Jacqueline Ann Bunting
Comment: Yes, I bought loads of LPs from the Torquay shop - those were the days...

Name: Flip Webster
Comment: Yep! Remember it well. It was cooler than the record shop at Castle Circus - what was that called?

Name: Brian Mclean
Comment: Went in the Torquay shop when on hols and bought a few heavy metal LPS. Great little shop.

Name: Jane Prothero
Comment: Used to buy my Motown 45s from Soundz in the early 1980s.

Name: Jon Lee
Comment: Did my work experience with Mike McGowan in Torquay.

Name: Toni Fenton
Comment: Yes! Bought gig tickets there as well.

Name: Lee Moh Peter
Comment: Yes indeed I have many a hard trance on wax still with the price on with Soundz - oh, and have most of the Shock Records back catalogue from there too, and they were pressed in Torquay I do believe 🤔

Name: Andy Lawson
Comment: Brought my first 12” in there. Rode home with it in my paper bag.

Name: Bern McKenzie
Comment: I loved that shop, I could never leave without buying something! Also liked Flox Records on Fleet Street.

Name: Richard Wilkins
Comment: Spent a great deal of my pocket money in both the Torquay and Paignton stores. Used to cycle there from Newton Abbot as we never had decent record shops there!

Name: Carol Hobart
Comment: I remember it. Used to get records and rave tickets there LOL. Now I feel old!

Name: Darren Square
Comment: Yes I used to book my concerts through them.

Name: Craig Mayo
Comment: Great place and wasn’t the owner the DJ at Monroes at the top of Market Street?

Name: Dave Stokes
Comment: Got loads off gabber vinyl from there.

Name: Tina Boyes
Comment: Got dragged to the Torquay one by my ex every single Saturday morning to look through the records. I'm sure he had a crush on the girl behind the counter, dark hair, quite moody, possibly called Sophie...

Name: Gary Eveleigh
Comment: Used to spend hours in there flipping through the albums. Also used their concert club for many concert trips.

Name: Andy Rook
Comment: I used to buy my records from Mike when I was a DJ in the bay 😉😉😉😉😉😉

Name: Nathan Hill
Comment: Remember when Mike McGowan owned it but also, before him, it belonged to Tom Dobbin's (Babbacombe Model Village) daughter - hence its presence at the Model Village. In the Paignton store her Red Setter dog Biggie would lie in the front window all day.

Name: Dan Hathaway
Comment: Spent a lot of my Fridays and a lot of my money in there.

Name: Beth Nyree Martin
Comment: I remember Paishes record shop in Union Street, loved the record booths!

Name: Tom Spilsbury
Comment: Used to go in the Torquay one as a 15/16-year-old lad buying happy hardcore vinyls and tapes. Was gutted when it closed.

Name: Karl Rodgers
Comment: Bought my first record there - Adam and the Ants.

Name: Geoff Germon
Comment: Lasers stuttering DJ and his protegée Helen Chamberlain used to get all his records from there.

Name: Julie Downing
Comment: Oh yes! Got all my concert tickets there in the early 1980s, plus more than a few 12-inch singles and LPs ❣️

Name: Andysarah Rodger
Comment: Best record store of all time!

Name: Carol Eyden
Oh yes, Soundz was just in the little curve of the pavement before the GPO. Loved it in there.

Name: Jeannette Redhead
Comment: Next door on the GPO roundabout was an American clothes shop selling vintage baseball jackets and second-hand Levi jeans... forgot the name, Flips like the London one maybe🤔

Name: Brian Sidebotham
Comment: Wow, never noticed it in the model village before!

Name: Tasch Scobie
Comment: Used to get concert tickets in there too.

Name: Anna Fiderkiewicz
Comment: The Torquay one was owned by the Dobbins, who started the Model Village.

Name: Dave Piercy
Comment: I definitely remember Soundz. Growing up I used to split my record-buying money between here and the record store in the indoor market.

Name: Alison Morren
Comment: Remember it well. In the 1980s I was into a lot of 1960s and 1970s stuff and used to love their Golden Oldies section. As well as the 1980s stuff of course. 💕

Name: Mark Binmore
Comment: Soundz used to have an amazing bargain rack of 12"s for 99p. And some good finds.

Name: Pavlina Distras
Comment: I remember when they got the group 'King' in there, and he liked my sister and asked for a kiss.

Name: Lucy Rebecca
Comment: It was the site which is now the barber’s next to Bettesworth’s in Torquay.

Name: Torquay in pictures
Comment: Lucy Rebecca - indeed - hopefully a picture will emerge in due course 🙂

Name: Parrott Sharon
Comment: I loved going in there! It was ‘the’ place to go for our records.

Name: Paul Walsh
Comment: Used to get loads of records from there. They were great for 12-inch singles. Ahh those were the days 🙂

Name: Ash Raddon
Comment: Still got my 45 vinyl paper bag

Name: Carl Goldsborough
Comment: Gooey was a good DJ, and Ben.

Name: Anne Denise
Comment: I got my ticket to Live Aid there - £25 including the coach!

Name: Darren Warde
Comment: Mike McGowan legend! He had a great photo of himself and The Jam above the counter. Always loved his shop, we could do with a record shop in Torquay.

Name: Mervyn Lamacraft
Comment: Soundz was the meeting and go-to place for the Torbay DJs on Saturday mornings. Mike had the best tunes for us under the counter. Those were happy days.

Name: Carol James
Comment: Mike persuaded me to buy Spandau Ballet's To Cut a Long Story Short 12". He said "these are going to be huge!"

Name: Nik Salter
Comment: Bought my first 12” record there - Prince 1999 with Little Red Corvette on the b-side.

Name: Jane Prothero
Comment: Bought all my Motown 45s in Soundz in Paignton and Torquay.

Happy memories. Not so happy memories of my dad getting me to buy my mum's Cliff Richard calendar and album every year when I was trying to be cool!

Name: Mark Vernall
Comment: Brought many a concert ticket from there, I also got Queen's A Day At The Races promotional cardboard displays and a full size and life-like Donna Summer cutout for my den... good times.